Chinese Junk

No, not the boats that toll the rivers of China. I'm talking about scooters.

But Chinese Junk a misnomer. When you consider that America is the worlds largest manufacture of cars and China is the world leader in Scooters you also must consider that they can't be junk if they are that big an industry. Chinese quality control leaves something to be desired. But the biggest problem we had was the bad, bad customer service from the company we bought them from. They are the Scooter Depot and they are big in California as well as online. And my guess is if you lived near them or in CA you would not have the problems we had. No there is no lemon law in CA for motorcycles and don't believe the hype about customer service on their website.

There were several problems I had with putting together the final parts. especially with a few missing. Also two left side rear view mirrows. But the biggest problem was the leaks. I filled both bikes with gas and we rode them around awhile. Testing and learning. that night, while trying to sleep we noticed the slight smell of fuel. Closed our window and it was eliminated. The next morning when we went to start the scooters we noticed the fuel was low on one and empty on the other. At any rate I added fuel to what is suppose to be mine and took it for a spin down the road. I didn't go far, since we didn't have licenses and when I gazed at the gas gage it was almost on empty again. With a turn around and hope, hope I could make it back without having to push it, I returned to camp.

I set the bike on the kick stand and watched the high priced precious fuel seep into the ground from whence it came. In a raw form that is. Pat's bike looked OK but we later found out it was leaking also. Not being mechanics we called the company and tried to find out what was happening. An exchange of a dozen emails, a couple of weeks and several phone calls and they never were able to address the problem. About half my emails went unanswered.

We later, after having gotten the trailer, took the bikes to Pensacola for repair. No one wants to work on Chinese bikes because it is supposedly hard to get parts and if they are a dealer in Chinese manufactured bikes they don't want to accommodate anyone who has bought online.

To make a long story short the repair shop in Pensacola did an initial set up on the bikes and we were off to the races. So we thought. When we put them on the trailer one started to leak again. So with a bottle of carburetor cleaner, free, and the instructions on running them until they clear up we took of again. We already lost a whole week in scheduling the bike class and was coming up short on the next class. Our deposit was already in and we only had one day before the class.

In short we took leaking bikes to class and discovered that if you put the bikes on the center stand they didn't leak. If you put them on the kick stand wherein the bike would be leaning to one side they bleed their precious fuel and our money. We spent twenty dollars on gas during the training session and only rode them for about twenty miles together.

Needless to say we still have two leaky scooters but my last phone call to the company was not nicely minced words and I requested to speak to an owner or manager. I expressed my disdain with there customer service. Apparently they are sending two new carburetors.

The Journey Back East

We were stuck at Azalea Acres. Waiting for our motor scooters. They are to be our alternative transportation since we don't have a tow vehicle and usually rent from Enterprise when we get to an area we want to travel in. You just can't take a 38 foot motor home up and down any street. We look at the scooters as getting to places you might not travel with a car. Like some of the back dirt trails. Well getting the scooter was just the beginning of the adventure.

They are 150cc Chinese made scooters. Well you know what they say about putting the cart before the horse? I did that. I bought a Versahaul carrier to hook into the tow frame of our unit. One that would carry both bikes (sounds better than scooters). When we finished putting the bikes together, there is minor assembly required, and tried to put them on the carrier, they would fit. The bikes are slightly too wide. We needed an extension of at least a foot on the carrier. So we had someone who was going into town, Robertsdale, pick one up for us and was going to have it welded on by one of work campers at the park.




After taking a review of the weight limits of the hitch, 500lbs, and the weight we were putting on it, over 600lbs we realized the best or at least the better thing to do was get a trailer to haul the bikes. So with some phone calls completed and some info from other members of the camping family off we went in our 38ft home to find a trailer. Of course we did some food shopping along the way. We found what we thought we wanted but had to return the following day to pick it up. They had to weld some D rings on it and since it was so late in the day they could not do the job right then.

After picking up the trailer the following day it was back to the park to load up same. Now this was accomplished over a period of days that turned into weeks. There was more that we were doing at the time. First item was to relocate in Florida since that was were our mailing address was now established. We also had to get our vehicle and license changed over to Florida. The tags were no problem but to get an endorsement on your license for the scooters you had to go to a bike training course. Two hundred dollars a piece for a two day course. So hold the licenses until after we take the course. So in the meantime we practice riding the bikes. Pat never had driven a bike before and I had not for umpteen decades.

Our testing and driving the bikes brought out problems with them. The worst being that they leaked fuel. That's another part of the journey back that we will get into on our next entry.